Drilling for Underground Water in Africa, Russia
Committee: Ecology and Environment Question of: Drilling for Underground Water in Africa Submitted by: 'Russia ''Recalling the United Nations Environment Programmes report on the ‘Greener Water Law’ (7 September 2010) stating that governments and law-makers need to integrate environmental concerns into water-use legislation to avert an impending global water crisis, Acknowledging the fact that the lack of clean drinking water affects 1.1 billion people in Africa and with the implementation of water drills this number would significantly decrease, hence helping to eradicate diseases such as Cholera and E.Coli, Reaffirming ''the first of the Millennium Development Goals, to eradicate poverty and hunger, ''Noting further that the abundance of water can significantly promote economic growth, allow the death rate caused by waterborne diseases to decrease and aid the eradication of poverty, Deeply concerned that the usage of drills to excavate water in Africa consequently triggers environmental impacts on the local environment. These effects can include the damaging of wild life, the drastic change to the environment around the drills and the large amount of electricity needed to power the machinery required, Noting with regret that Russia has several environmental issues of its own but is currently trying to resolve them by cooperating with the United Nations to reach the standards suggested, Emphasizing ''that it is the role of all countries under the United Nations to participate in the sustained implementation of environmentally friendly drills to work to provide African counties with water, ''Expresses its hope that in the future African nations will be able to eradicate poverty caused by lack of water through the excavation of water provided by sustainable methods, :1. '''Calls for '''all member states to work towards extracting water from underneath African Nations by enabling the United Nations Environmental Programme to enforce greener water laws in the form of an international treaty in order to sustainably drill for water to provide economic prosperity and relief from poverty. Nations who sign the treaty will be expected to abide by its rules therefore members who do not, will have to consequently pay reparation into a fund which will be used to restore the ruined environment; :2. '''Recommends '''that the financially able members of the United Nations take it as a moral obligation to contribute finances to enable the water extraction process to take place; :3. '''Requests that before any drilling commences an in-depth report should be conducted by the United Nations to ensure that by drilling into the African continent no harm will be done to its structure and stability so that the environment remains constant. Further noting that some of the environmental effects suggested would include the destabilization of the rock on which the African continent sits; :4. Further requests'' the establishment of an International law applying to all countries involved with the drilling that will be enforced by imposing economic sanctions on States who do not abide with the environmental standards set within the law. This will be done in order to promote and regulate the environmentally friendly extraction of water below African nations, to thus ensure that the emissions produced are kept at a constant sustainable level; :5. '''Encourages' the use of environmentally friendly drilling companies such as E&P focus to employ sustainable techniques when drilling underground for water. Further noting that the United Nations will be employing these companies through the World Bank funds. This will ensure that a reduced amount of carbon emissions is entering the atmosphere thus enabling a significantly less amount of damage to be done to the surrounding environment. This will be done by using low-impact technology which regulates the amount of emissions entering the atmosphere and keeps them at a sustainable level. Category:WyMUN/Eco Topic 1 Category:WyMUN Conference